Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — March 2011

Mar 28, 2011

Little has changed since President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. The March Health Tracking Poll finds that the public continues to report that they are confused about the law, say they don’t have enough information on how the law will affect them, and remain divided in their views of the law. Further, the stark partisan gap persists. In terms of next steps for the law, Americans like the idea of state flexibility, with the caveat that the plans they offer are of equal quality and cover just as many people, but are opposed to the idea of defunding health reform. The public is still split on repeal, with slightly more wanting to expand the law or leave it as is than wanting it repealed entirely or repealed and replaced with a Republican alternative. A majority wants to repeal the individual mandate, but support is malleable when told that the mandate will not change the existing health care arrangements of most Americans. One year into implementation, a small segment of the population believes they have already been impacted by the law either positively or negatively.

The March poll is the latest in a series designed and analyzed by the Foundation’s public opinion research team.